J. Dinkins G. Grange is an attorney in Northeast Florida, helping his clients find solutions to their financial problems, which in some cases includes bankruptcy in some cases. This Blog contains general bankruptcy relevant information. His practice includes representing clients in various areas of civil litigation including Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies, foreclosure defense and probate.

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Amendments to Bankruptcy Laws Effective December 1, 2018

All In Favor?

It seems like the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy
Procedure are amended every year at the recommendation of an advisory
committee since 2006 after the last major change in bankruptcy laws in 2005. For 2018, there were some meaningful amendments, however, unlike previous years,
the changes will not effect my clients much, in that the amendments
dealt with, for the most part, appeal and electronic filing laws.

So, how does all this happen? The amendments address issues identified by a committee, called an Advisory
Committee. The committee is made up of federal judges, bankruptcy attorneys, and others.
The rule amendments are approved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Key Rule Amendments Have A Certain Appeal.
This year almost all of the rule amendments are fairly
technical. If you are a bankruptcy rules geek, like myself, then you will want to read the following:

Rule 3002 has been amended to address procedures for handling payment changes in home equity lines of credit in consumer cases.

Rule 5005 has been amended to require electronic filing absent good
cause and to make that a national rule. As the Advisory Committee
commented, “Electronic filing has matured” and “The time has come to
seize the advantages of electronic filing by making it mandatory in all
districts, except for filings made by an individual not represented by
an attorney.” Almost all filings are electronic now anyway so this is
more of the rule reflecting current practice than requiring actual
changes.

Rule 7004(a) has been tweaked to pick up the accurate cross-references to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4.

Rule 7062 applies Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 62 to adversary
proceedings but clarifies that the stay of proceedings to enforce a
judgment is only for 14 days in an adversary proceeding and not the 30
days in a district court case.

Rule 8002 has been amended to clarify, among other items, time requirements for filing a notice of appeal.

Rule 8006 now allows the bankruptcy court to file a statement on the
merits of direct certification to the court of appeals when the parties
make a joint certification.

Rules 8007 and 8010 discard the term “supersedeas bond” and instead
use “security provided to obtain a stay of judgment” to account for
changes to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 62.

Several rules, including Rules 8011, 8013, 8015, 8016, and 8022 have
been amended to reflect electronic filing and to limit the size of
briefs using word counts rather than page limits.

Rule 8017 has been revised to address amicus briefs and their potential impact on the disqualification of a judge.

Rule 8018.1 has been added to allow a district court to treat an
appeal from a bankruptcy court judgment — if the district court
concludes the bankruptcy court lacked constitutional authority to enter
the judgment — as proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Rule 9025 has been revised to reflect the different types of security for appeals and their providers.

I know, for most people this is not very exciting stuff. If you would like to know more about the amendments or have any specific questions, I suggest you contact your local bankruptcy attorney.

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Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney -- J. Dinkins G. Grange, Esquire

I am a consumer bankruptcy attorney
helping people with their financial situations. As a bankruptcy lawyer, I help people find
various alternatives towards handling their financial problems, and
if needed, I can provide legal assistance to consumers seeking relief
under the bankruptcy code. I can be contacted by email at dgrange@grangelaw.org. I am available by appointment
during the week and most evenings.

I am located in Green Cove Springs on North Street, and Middleburg on Palmetto Street.

I am a member of the National
Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (www.nacba.org),
Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association, American Bar Association,
Florida Bar, and Jacksonville Bar Association.

I have also been designated a debt
relief agency by Congress and the United States Supreme Court and I
help clients file for bankruptcy relief under the bankruptcy code.

Disclosure:

We are a debt relief agency. We help clients file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. This blog site is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.